Update: I was unfortunately not aware of Shamus Young's severe criticism of Fallout 3 available here to link in the original piece and I regret that. It dovetails rather nicely with what I've written and it's much better executed than my piece. I strongly recommend anyone...

We Love Katamari Screenshots

Prince of the Cosmos Returns to the PlayStation(R)2 in Sequel to One of 2004's Most Acclaimed Games

SANTA CLARA, Calif., (April 25, 2005) ­ Leading video games developer and publisher Namco Hometek Inc. announced today "We Love Katamari(TM)," the sequel to 2004's beloved cosmic clump-rolling game, "Katamari Damacy(TM)." "We Love Katamari," available exclusively for the PlayStation(R)2 computer entertainment system later this year, will feature the diminutive yet determined Prince, with an assortment of celestial cousins and the eccentric King of All Cosmos.

The King of All Cosmos grew to stardom after taking all of the Prince's katamaris and replacing the stars. His fans knew no bounds and wished to see more katamaris fill the sky. The King of All Cosmos desired to appease all of their requests and recruited the Prince and his cousins to help. Now they are tasked with rolling up even more clumps, each larger and more different than the one before.

In "We Love Katamari," players will find themselves in various new locations around Earth as the Prince and his cousins roll up different katamaris according to the fans' requests. "We Love Katamari" continues the series' trademark graphical style and musical excellence with an original soundtrack and hundreds of brand new items including Koi fish, angels and famous Earthly landmarks to roll up. The Prince's celestial rolling has no boundaries; as his katamari grows larger, he can roll up literally everything in his path ­ from underwater creatures to mountains and even the Eiffel Tower itself!

"'Katamari Damacy' was the break-out hit of 2004 garnering tremendous accolades while delivering an innovative yet intuitive style of play to gamers," said Yoshi Niki, Business Unit Director at Namco Hometek Inc. "We are hard at work on the second installment of this landmark series that will deliver a new level of originality and style that will have gamers shouting, 'We Love Katamari!'"

Players can also roll with a friend in the all-new two-player cooperative mode. With each player controlling part of the clump, they will have to devise new strategies and communicate their rolling intentions in a new level of katamari madness. Battle Mode has also returned to "We Love Katamari" in extended form with three size scopes for competitive rolling action.